Bypass Road Kalavasal to Palanganantham along the side of the highway, there are small train carriages and small food box shops. They have provided all facilities including rotorum gas cylinder, stove, dining table, wash basin. They even put a bed next to it as a place to lean and rest. Motorists coming to these shops park their cars and two-wheelers on the road, so the traffic jam is heart-breaking. Thus, you can see cars playing ‘kabaddi’, flowing buses, and share autos showing off on the bypass road every day. An Oscar should be given to those who walk and cross the road in between. If this is the case for the highway, the service roads are very bad on both sides. Pushcart shops are occupying there too. The shopkeepers do not even leave the service roads which are set up to be used for emergencies. If the highway department and the corporation officials feel like it, they can finish this in one day. But they pass the time carelessly as to who and what happens.
The ‘Target’ of the occupation is the Friday market
The Friday market has a high target in occupying the Madurai bypass service roads. On that one day only, there will not be enough space to walk on the service road. Even an ambulance cannot enter the service road where there are many residences and permanent shops if someone is unwell. This road has been full of encroachments for many years. But the corporation continues to bid for the market on the service road. Residents of Bypass Road are in a frenzy as to whether they will accept the know-it-all officials occupying their home areas.
Profit if you go; If we take it, it will be a loss
Officials of the Highways Department and Municipal Corporation said: “If you take the shops, it will be a profit and if we take it, it will be a loss.” But when we come they take their shops and after our heads are gone they set up their shops again. Many food stalls lack sanitation. They cook substandard food. They throw food waste on the road and cause health problems. It is our responsibility to remove encroachments. Similarly, food safety authorities should monitor and control substandard food.